I'm a retired teacher/advisor having taught in elementary schools in Wisconsin and Australia. I got hooked on Bugguide in 2007 after posting a photo of an unknown bee (to me) which turned out to be a European Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium manicatum). Most of my early photos were taken using a Sony DSC-F717 or a Sony DSC-H5.

Starting around July 17, 2008, I started using a DSLR camera - Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10K with an Olympus macro 52mm macro lens.

June 2009 - started using an Olympus 50mm 1:2 macro Zuiko lens.

Looking forward to trying out another camera this coming summer - a Canon G12.

The blue squares on the background of many of my photos are 5mm squares which allows me to get a somewhat accurate measurement of the size of the insect being photographed.

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